What I have learned today [2015/5/25-2015/5/27]

1. In asset bubbles, hold cash, gold, and real assets.

2. With the increase of chipped cards, other types of credit card frauds have increased.  Balloon effect at work :D

3. Productivity may be limited by cost of energy. This makes sense unless there are breakthroughs in making inputs more efficient, the output should be limited as the costs become uneconomic.

4. Finny Kuruvilla invests according to biblical principals. I have not done a due diligence on him but it is good to see that we can invest well following the bible.

5. India is ranked 142 out of 188 countries in the World Banks' "Ease of doing Business" list.

6. Japan's advance in robotics is likely to raise productivity in small-medium firms.

7. Fuld, ex CEO of Lehman, did not care much about risk before the end by not listening to the head of fixed income and risk manager. He cannot blame others. He did mess up by focusing too much on profit rather than risk management.



*From Snapshot Serengeti

What I have learned today [2015/4/11]

 
1. According to Nicholas Megalis, one of the most popular vine artists, vines take a lot of effort to make and many do not even see the light of day....I thought that vines where just simply made and posted but it turns out that it requires tremendous effort and creativity. Say good bye to living off simply shooting short videos and expecting to live off vine.

2. Small cap premium may not be so strong. Damodaran discusses how the small capital premium is not as big or robust as it seems. Yet investors and analysts are slow to abandon the idea due to mmm....inertia and bias. Well, more trading opportunities for me :D


3. According to a human resource survey, Tuesday is the most productive day. Monday, you have the Monday effect and likely to have bunch of meetings. Tuesdays, you can really do work. Wednesday, you can still do work. Thursday and Friday? Well, weekend is just around the corner so...

4. An email is a binding contract. I guess it is written and get verified so...better be more careful with email.

5. According to a survey by UBS, wealthy clients thinks that an individual has to have at least $5 million and $1 million in cash to be "wealthy." I think five million is enough for you to lead a comfortable life even if some disastrous event happens. Assuming a conservative 3% return on your wealth, you make $150,000 which is enough for a decent life. Also, one million cold cash can be either used for emergency or to make killing when there is blood on the streets (e.g. financial crisis).


*From Snapshot Serengeti

What I have learned today [2015/3/29]

1. Don't let email control you! Check email in given time slots to be more productive. Be proactive not reactive. Don't let email dictate your day.

2. Read the related party transactions in financial statements to see if there are funny things going on in the company. Footnoted creator, Michelle Leder advises investors to read the footnotes and also pay attention to weird management perks.

3.I have learned that coins have ridges because criminals used to shave gold/silver coins and sold those shavings. Ridges prevented criminals from shaving the coins. Well, since coins do not contain precious coins anymore, the mint can save money by not having ridges?

4. I have realized that I should workout more because my muscles are shrinking like a deflating balloon...Need more discipline.

5. I have realized to change one soul, we really need to love with all our heart and body. That means really caring about that person by serving and praying. We need to spend more time with the individual, and be concerned about him just as Jesus has loved us.

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).



*From Snapshot Serengeti

Productivity Hack: Listening to podcasts.

One of my greatest productivity hack is listening to podcasts whenever possible. I listen when I walk, drive, go shopping, or when I have to clean data!!!

When I first listened to podcasts, I focused too much on the content and tried to understand everything. And that is absolutely a No, No. If you try to understand everything on a podcast, you will get nauseated and a screaming headache. So please don't do that.

So what is the right way to listen to podcasts? Here are my guidelines, which hopefully is useful.

1. Listen comfortably. Don't force yourself to understand 100%, that is a recipe for disaster. Just think whatever you learn, that it is a plus to your life. It is like basically bonuses. And sometimes, you get great insights and I call them mega bonus! And even if you think you forget everything the brain is actually quite amazing and recalls some stuff. Many instances, I actually was able to recall some information from the podcasts that I have heard and it was amazing. So please listen while chilling no need to force yourself. If you think you missed something important, you can listen to them again and also these days many podcasts provide you with transcripts and additional resources on their websites so relax.

2. Speed up. Most podcasts are boring actually....And most of the times only like ten minutes are worth of your time out of a one hour long podcast. So speed up, most podcast players have an option of speeding up. So I usually listen my podcasts at 2x and I have no trouble understanding. And if I feel like I am missing something, I just listen to 1x. So this saves me a lot of time and enables me to listen to many podcasts :D

3. Listen to diverse podcasts. Most of the podcasts that I listen to are either finance, economics, or psychology but I often hear other topics. Just to stimulate my brain and become more interesting. So I suggest you download stitcher, which suggests you great diverse podcasts.

4. Listen carefully how people speak in podcasts. I have learned tremendously from podcasts through listening how great and accomplished people speak and debate. I try to emulate their style and reasoning and this has worked. I am better at reasoning and I am proud to say that I actually convinced some very smart people. So listen carefully, how people speak, they have the experience and they are very good. I suggest that you listen to NPR Intelligent Squared and Econtalk. Don't be stressed if you don't get it the first time or first ten times, keep listening and you will learn how to reason and speak like great accomplished people.

5. Connect what you have learned. Try to connect what you have heard to your life. Tell your friends, post on facebook, write a diary, do something with that knowledge. In my cases, I try to come up with ideas with what I have learned through the podcast. This helps me better learn and retain the material in the podcast and also makes you more interesting, when you speak to your friends :D



Before I go here are my five favorite podcasts, hope you enjoy~

1.Econtalk
2. Intelligence Squared
3. James Altucher Show
4. Science Friday
5. Wall Street Unplugged

Happy listening :D